Cost-of-living Christmas: Meet the woman foraging for Christmas decorations

euronews (in English)

Claire Douglas says she's saved loads of money by looking for Christmas decorations in her local woodland.

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 I am an interiorist and DIY,

00:16 so content creator and freelance writer.

00:18 So I spend lots of time trying to think of creative ideas

00:22 and projects that I can do to help inspire people

00:24 to sort of build a connection with their homes on a budget.

00:29 That's kind of my thing really,

00:30 trying to show people you don't have to spend a fortune

00:32 to create a home that you really love.

00:34 So I kind of came up with the idea of foraging

00:37 to be able to create sort of bigger and bolder displays.

00:40 First, we've got to decide what you're doing.

00:42 So what's your project gonna be?

00:44 What are you displaying?

00:45 What are you sort of creating?

00:46 And then that'll give you,

00:47 you'll have something in your mind then

00:49 that you're looking for, which will help you.

00:51 You could literally just be using like your garden,

00:55 your friend or family's garden,

00:56 as long as you get obviously the permission of the landowner.

00:59 It could be as simple as walking down the street

01:03 and finding some twigs after a big storm,

01:06 or it could be a bit more of a planned trip.

01:09 So maybe going to some local woodlands

01:12 and sort of looking for some specific sort of foliage

01:15 or greenery to fulfill sort of for a specific project.

01:18 And then just have a bit of a sort of an explore really.

01:21 You can look in sort of hedgerows or on the path,

01:25 or in the fields, wherever,

01:27 as long as you're allowed to be there.

01:29 And then yeah, just sort of go exploring really.

01:32 So real sort of variety,

01:39 right down from some really small little bud vases

01:42 on your bedside table,

01:44 up to sort of like quite a big mantle display.

01:46 So I like doing on your mantelpiece,

01:49 quite big, bold sort of bonkers branches

01:51 and things like that.

01:53 And then the tablescapes and even things like,

01:56 I love twigs and branches.

01:58 So you can just sort of put twigs in the vase

02:00 and sort of hang decorations off of them, really simple.

02:02 And then more recently, like the Christmas tree.

02:05 So I've got a bit of a knaffled artificial tree.

02:09 So I thought, right,

02:09 how can I make this tree like a bit more attractive?

02:13 So I sort of faked a real tree

02:15 by using lots of branches

02:18 to sort of make it look as if it were for real.

02:20 (upbeat music)

02:23 You were to buy in a florist,

02:27 sort of the, what I have,

02:29 I'm sort of florist,

02:30 it would have cost hundreds and hundreds of pounds for sure.

02:32 And so there's definitely a huge sort of cost saving element

02:36 which is obviously really helpful to people

02:39 at times like now.

02:40 And when you do make something,

02:41 you appreciate it so much more.

02:43 And you kind of,

02:44 I think it's particularly at times like Christmas,

02:46 when you're sort of at home with your family.

02:48 So if you can sort of help create

02:50 that sort of festive feel by making things

02:52 with your family and your kids or your friends or anyone,

02:55 I think it's just a really lovely thing to do.

02:57 (piano music)

03:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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